Printing-press.



PATENTED DEC. 18, 1906.

T; .0. SHEEHAN. PRINTING mass.

APPLIBAIION FILED APR. 23. 1906.

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THOMAS C. SHEEHAN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO TRINITY PRESS COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEI/V YORK.

PRINTING-PRESS Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 18, 1906.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS C. SHEEHAN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to printingmachines, and has particular reference to the kind of printing-machines which must be run at a slow speed in order to turn out the work properly. WVhen the machine is run slowly, the feeding mechanism must also be run at a slow speed, and as these machines are generally two-revolution machines the speed of the feeding mechanism must be so timed as to present the sheet at every second revolution, and this of course prevents the work from being turned out quickly, so that if a big 3' ob is to be done quickly it is necessary to employ more than one of these machines.

The direct object of this invention is to provide a machine which is adapted to turn out the work in at least half the time in which it now can be done and to so arrange the parts and to provide novel and improved features as will produce the desired result.

In order to accomplish my object, I provide a plurality of printing-couples and a feeding mechanism by which I am enabled to feed the sheets alternately to each of the printing-couples in such a manner that the feeding mechanism can be run at a speed as many times greater than that of the printing mechanism as the latter contains printingcouples. In so doing I amalso able to print the same job in more than one colorthat is, each printing-couple may print in a color different from that printed by the other printing-couples, but only one printingcouple acts on the sheet.

My invention is fully described in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part, and in which suitable reference characters are used to designate the separate parts.

In the said drawing, which is largely diagrammatical and only so much of a printingpress being shown as is necessary to a clear understanding of my invention, I have shown a feeding device 1, a series of printing-couples of the printing mechanism proper, (shown at 3,) and a conveyer (shown at 2) connecting the feed with the printing mechanism.

In the present instance I have illustrated a one-revolution machine having .two printingcouples but my invention is, as will be readily understood, adapted to be used on maclliines having more than two printing-cow p es.

At 4 and 5 I have shown the form and im pression cylinders of one printing-couple, while at 6 and 7 are shown the form and impression cylinders of the second printingcouple, said printing-couples being provided with the usual inking apparatus, as shown at 8 and 9, and the impression-cylinders are preferably provided with grippers 10 and throw-offs 11 of the usual or any desired con' struction.

My improved conveyers or tapeways include the upper and lower sets of tapes 12 and 13, each of which feeds to a correspond ing printing-couple, and said tapes pass around suitable rollers 14, 15, 16, and 17, said rolls 15 and 17 being permanently journaled in the frame of the machine, whereas the rolls 14 and 16 are journaled in boxes 18 and 19, which are vertically movable by means of a carriage 20, in which they are mounted, and which carriage operates between guides 21 of a bracket 22, mountedadjacent to the feeding device, which in this instance is shown as being automatic; but a feed-board may be substituted therefor, if

desired. The carriage 20 is reciprocated by' means of a cam 23 and a friction-roll 24, to which it is connected by means of a rod 25. The cam 23 is mounted on a shaft 26, to which motion is imparted by means of pulleys 27 and 28 and a belt 29, said pulley 28 being carried by the main driving-shaft 30, to which power is applied in any suitable manner. The shaft 26 is adapted to rotate at twice the speed of the shaft 30, said lastnamed shaft having a pinion 31 mounted thereon, by means of which motion is transmitted to the cylinders in the following manner: The pinion 31 meshes with a gear 32 on geared directly to the form-cylinderj 6 f An intermediate gear 33 transmits the rii otiph 1 5 to the upper printing-couple, as shown.

The tapes 12 are driven by means of the gear 34 meshing with the gear on the form-cylinder 4, while the tape 13 is driven by means of the gear 35 meshing with the gear 32. The delivery-tapes 36 and 37 for the printing couples are driven in the following manner: The tapes 36 pass over the rolls 38, the lowermost of which carries the gear 39 ,which is drivenfrom the first form-cylinder gear, while the tapes 37 pass over the rolls 40, one of which meshes with the gear 32, and in practice I provide guides 41, 42, and 43 of the usual or any preferred construction.

In the operation of my machine a sheet is fed from the feeding device onto the upper feed-tape, thence to the first printing-couple, where it receives the impression and from which it passes to the delivery-tape 36, and

in the operation of printing this sheet the carriage 20 is moved up until the rolls 16 are flush with the top,of the pile of sheets, and a new sheet is now fed onto the tape 13 and is conveyed to the sec ond printingcouple, where it receives the impression and is carried to the delivery-point by means of the tape 37, and in this operation the carriage 20 is moved downwardly, and the operation just described is repeated. From the delivery-tapes the sheet passes to delivery. mechanism of any suitable construction,

said mechanism not being shown in the draw ings, however, as it forms no part of this invention.

In practice I prefer to provide tension devices 45 in order to keep the tapes 12 and 13 taut during the movement of the carriage, and, as shown in the drawings, said tension devices are acted upon by springs 46.

It will be noted that the sheets are delivered with the printed side up, and it will also be seen that the same job may be printed in two separate colors, so that the forms may be different, or, in other words, two different jobs may be turned out in the same or different colors.

From the above it will be understood that by providing a plurality of printing-couples and using the conveyers or tapes, as here in dicated, the machine will turn out double the amount of work than when only one tapeway is employed in connection with one printing-couple.

When using a feed-board, the rotation of the shaft 26 may be stopped and the sheets then fed to the tapes alternately by hand, and while I have not described the grippers and various other elements necessary to the operation of the printing-press it will be un derstood that any form of the same may be employed, and various changes to the construction herein shown and described may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of this invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

1. In a printing-machine the combination with a feeding device of a plurality of printing-couples, a plurality of sets of tapeways interposed between the said feeding device and the said printing-couples, and means for reciprocating one end of the said tapeways in such a manner that the sheets are fed alternately to the said printing-couples.

2. In a one-revolution printing-machine, the combination of a feeding device, a plurality of printing-couples, a plurality of sets of tapeways interposed between the said feeding device and the said printing-couples, and means for reciprocating one end of the said tapeways to register with said feeding device alternately.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a plurality of printingcouples, a feeding mechanism, conveyers interposed between said feeding mechanism and the corresponding printing-couple, and means for operating said conveyers to register alternately with said feeding device.

4. In a printing-machine, the combination of a feeding device, a plurality of printingcouples, a conveyer for each of said printing-couples interposed. between the same and said feeding mechanism, means for operating the ends of said conveyers to register with said feeding mechanism alternately and means for operating said conveyers to carry sheets from said feeding mechanism to said printing-couples.

5. In a printing-machine, the combination with a feeding device, of a plurality of printing-couples, a plurality of tapeways and means for feeding the sheets alternately to the said tapeways.

6. In a printing-machine, the combination with a primary feeding device, of a plurality of printing-couples, supplemental feeding devices interposed between the said primary device and the printing-couples and means for feeding the sheets from the said primary to the said supplemental feeding devices alternately.

7. In a printing-machine, the combination with a primary feeding device, of a plurality of printing-couples, a secondary feeding device interposed between the said primary device and the printing-couples and means for reciprocating one end of the said secondary feeding device.

8. In a printing-machine, the combination with a feeding device, of printing mechanisms, a plurality of sets of tapeways and means for feeding the sheets alternately over the said tapeways to the said printing mechanisms.

9. In a machine of the character described printing mechanisms, a feeding device therefor comprising a plurality of sets of tapeways and means for reciprocating one end of the IIC said tapeways, whereby the sheets are fed over the same alternately to said printing mechanisms.

10. In a machine of the character described printing mechanisms, a feeding device therefor comprising a plurality of sets of tapeways, one end of each of which is fixed adjacent to the corresponding printing mechanism, a carriage, the other ends of said tapeways being mounted in said carriage and means for reciprocating the latter.

1 1. In a print ing-machine, the combination of printing mechanisms with a feeding device, a plurality of sets of tapeways interposed between the said feeding device and the printing mechanisms, one end of the said tapeways being fixed adjacent to the said printing mechanisms, a'carriage, the other ends of said tapeways being mounted in said carriage and means for reciprocating the lat- 2o ter whereby the sheets are fed at one point, alternately, over the said tapeways to the said printing mechanisms.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in pres- 2 5 ence of the subscribing witnesses, this 20th day of April, 1906.

THOMAS C. SHEEHANG Witnesses:

L. CROLY, D. A. SHEEHAN. 

